UK-based Big Head Games, who brought Retro to the App Store, has just released cue sport title International Snooker [App Store] for the iPhone and iPod touch.

I confess to not personally being much of a pool or "cue sports" fan.  And being a Yank, I've had rather little exposure to the game of snooker.  But I've spent time with various desktop and mobile cue sports titles, and Big Head Games' touchscreen-based iPhone offering is, to me, a rather satisfying and sufficiently realistic mobile translation of a real world sport.

Feature List:

• Single and two player quick games
• Tournament mode with 8 rounds against the world's best, competing for a place on the podium and the coveted IS Gold Cup.
• Super smooth and intuitive camera and cue control.
• Accurate power control, not 'swipe and hope'.
• Realistic ball physics including top, back and side spin.
• Play your own music or listen to the high quality sound fx and theme tune.
• Ball path guide lines including object and cue ball paths enhance gameplay over it's rivals.
• Difficulty settings that truly make a difference.
  Stats page holds wins, losses, cup wins and highest breaks.
• Made for iPhone (not a port)
• Full Rules and Instructions

See the developer's gameplay video for a closer look.

Cue game fans--especially those on the other side of the pond--may do well to have a look at $4.99 International Snooker.  It's a solid iPhone sports title.

App Store Link: International Snooker, $4.99

Mobile game studio Astraware, who brough us Platypus and Golden Skull among others, today released a demo gameplay video of their upcoming iPhone port of mobile 3D helicopter combat game Hellfire.

Hellfire is an exciting helicopter combat game that takes you on a worldwide tour of duty. Climb aboard your helicopter gunship and take on 16 missions of adrenaline-fuelled combat action in a global theater of war.

Features listed by the developer:

• Worldwide missions to complete, including multiple objectives per mission.
• Choice of full Campaign or single Mission modes.
• Choice of US or Soviet helicopters, both with realistic weapon loadouts and capabilities.
• Varied gameplay with multiple levels of challenge.
• Combination of accelerometer and touchscreen controls.
• 3D terrain and enemies, along with high quality pre-rendered helicopter models.
• Dynamic sound effects and music soundtrack, or switch them off and listen to your own music.
• Tutorial mode to help you master the controls for your 'copter.

Hellfire was created by Pazzazz Games, who developed GTS World Racer for the iPhone.  Hellfire will land in the App Store soon (no solid date has been announced).  Stay tuned for a closer look.

iPhone developer Nitako has posted a gameplay video of their forthcoming title RastaMonkey for the iPhone and iPod touch.  As the developer describes it,

Rasta Monkey is by far the best Iphone 2D action platformer out there. With perfect physics based gameplay that you will love. Coming soon to the iPhone app store.

RastaMonkey is a Unity Engine based game and received special recognition for Action Game Development and 2D Game Design at the recent Unity Developers Game Awards.

A web-based demo version of the game (requiring the Unity web plug-in) can be played at Nitako's website.

At this time there is no indication of when RastaMonkey will make it to the App Store or details in general beyond what you see here.  We'll keep an eye on this one and bring additional information as it becomes available.

Earlier this month we reviewed Yose Widjaja's rather unique iPhone game Space Ninja [App Store].

Space Ninja is set up like a traditional vertical shooter in which you control the flight of a spaceship. Instead of shooting the enemies, however, the objective is to dodge enemy fire by-the-skin-of-your-teeth and make it to the end of each level. There are 40 progressively difficult levels and 5 challenge levels.  The accelerometer-controlled game features an unlimited “bullet time” (slow motion) mode where by simply tapping down and holding your finger to the screen, the action slows down and the view slowly zooms in so you can perform more exact movements.

Those who've spent any real time with Space Ninja know that the game is quite a challenge.  And so we were rather impressed to see the video posted by forum member 'spmwinkel' showing evidence of his completion of all 40 levels without using powerups.  His completion of the final level can be seen in the video below.

Strong work, spmwinkel.

Fans of retro-inspired LED Football may find Codeon's recent iPhone release, Bank Panic [App Store], to their liking.

Bank Panic turns your iPhone or iPod touch into a Nintendo Game & Watch-style LCD-based handheld game console of olde.  It's a simple game where paniced bankers seek to hurl themselves from highrises to the concrete below.  It's the player's task to save them in a fireman's trampoline.  Somewhat disturbingly (especially today), the game's difficulty is directly tied to the Dow Jones--quotes are fetched at the beginning of each gameplay session.  There are two difficulty (speed) settings to choose from.

Control is carried out through two onscreen buttons (default) or via accelerometer.  It's about as simple as a game can get.  Move left.  Move right.  Catch the falling bankers.  It's mostly about the retro novelty, but I found myself having fun with it.

Retro fans may find it to be worth the $0.99 price of admission.

App Store Link: Bank Panic, $0.99

In late December German mobile developer Liquid Air Lab released the free, ad-supported, 5-level Rick Rocketson (Free) [App Store] for the iPhone and iPod touch.  This 2D "jump 'n' run" platformer, done in the retro style, was meant to invoke the classic days of Amiga platform gaming and to serve as a preview to the full 14-level Rick Rocketson Pro.  Today the paid app Rick Rocketson Pro [link] appeared in the iTunes App Store.

The space hero and all around good guy Rick Rocketson was rocketing home from the nefarious planet Omicron Nebula. Then, suddenly the evil and vicious space pirates of the asteroid Blob 5 shot him down! Rick Rocketson must escape or the entire galaxy is doomed!

Fight the furious space hedgehogs by throwing acidogefilus-grenades to them and shoot evil space pirates of the asteroid Blob 5 with laserblaster to survive complex level design loaded with traps, lava and other hazards! Don't forget to pick up some health and ammunition packages!

Those familiar with those late '80s / early '90s days of Amiga gaming will indeed find this title to capture much of the essence of platformers of the era.  Not only does the gameplay harken back to that period, the original Amiga-style soundtrack--composed by Amiga MOD composers Tempest and Reed--plays a large part in the overall experience, as well.

Some features as listed by the developer:

• Different types of opponents
• Laser & Grenades as weapons
• Health, bonus and ammunition collectibles
• Environmental hazards, lava and traps
• Controller / screen tapping modes
• Portrait and landscape modes supported
• Levels will be stored as you solve them

The game features onscreen controls that work rather well.  Rather than a D-pad, the developers chose to place a Left/Right touch control at the left edge of the screen and an Up/Down control at the right, with laser and grenade buttons between them.  Players may find this arrangement superior to the more standard control rose featured in various other platformers available in the App Store.

As a particular retro fan, I find Rick Rocketson Pro to offer enjoyable gameplay, and would certainly call it one of the more solid 2D platformer experiences available for the iPhone and iPod touch.  Retro fans in particular will likely find the title worth its $1.99 [link] App Store price tag.

See the developer's gameplay video for a closer look.

JadeGame, who brought us Ultranium 4 and Metal Angel, has recently released an iPhone adaptation of their Mac platform game Android [App Store] through the iTunes App Store.

Android is an out-of-this-world kind of game: It's the biggest tiny game you'll ever play! Though it's set in a teeny tiny universe, it's worlds of humungous fun! ... There are gold bags amidst the playing fields of Android, so look very carefully because you'll need to collect all of them before you can leap to the next level!

Android is a 2D platformer very similar to Brøderbund's classic Lode Runner.  The goal is to guide an android around each level, collecting every bag of gold on the screen while avoiding roving enemies and collecting bonus fruit.  As with Lode Runner, gameplay involves running, climbing, hanging, and dropping bombs in order to dig holes or trap enemies.  All is done via touchscreen controls.

As was the case with Jade's MetalAngel, the iPhone version of Android is notably slower than the Mac original, but this is much less of a negative in this title versus the company's more speed-critical space shooter.  The Mac version features 100 levels across five different worlds.  We've not played the iPhone version to completion and, in the lack of specifics from Jade, can't speak to the number of levels available to iPhone gamers.

Fans of Lode Runner and the like will certainly enjoy Android and may find the $1.99 iPhone version worth an app slot on their device.  This is easily Jade's best iPhone title yet.

Mac users can download the free demo version of Android to get a feel for the gameplay.  Have a look at our gameplay video to get acquainted with the iPhone version.

[ Full HD version | Low Bandwidth version ]

Xen Games' 3D shooter Rebel Onslaught [App Store] is now available for purchase.

A strange portal has opened up in our solar system, flooding our skies with alien battleships, threatening Earth's very existence. A desperate struggle for survival against the alien menace is taking place on Earth and in space to hold back the onslaught.

A stunning space shooter set over a wide range of environments, Rebel Onslaught features advanced 3D graphics, a variety of enemies and weapons, and exhilarating fast paced combat.

The game offers both tilt and analog virtual control pad to fly your ship.

Some early adopters have posted first impressions of the $4.99 title. We'll provide some initial impressions after we've had some time with the title.

App Store Link: Rebel Onslaught, $4.99

Shay Casey of h.grenade games has written in to alert us to his upcoming space shooter Circuit Strike.One for the iPhone and iPod touch.  He describes Circuit Strike.One as the perfect game for the Geometry Wars fan who would enjoy a larger playfield and more Asteroids-like pacing.

Some of the features as listed by the developer:

• Real-time Music Visualizer Effects Synced to Gameplay (hits change tempo, add fills, trigger visuals, etc. in time with the music)
• Glowing Retro 3D Graphics Style Environment
• Pulse Pounding Techno Soundtrack by DJ Vitamin Devo
• 3D Camera Based Menu System + User Interface
• High Speed Inertia Based Physics + Gameplay
• Frenetic action and control in Zero G
• Bullet-time Slow-Motion Game Mechanic
• Time + Skill Based Difficulty
• Multiple Intelligent Enemy Classes

Casey intends to provide us with a gameplay video in the next few days, so stay tuned for a closer look at Circuit Strike.One.

During the week of Macworld Expo, the day's Apple-related fun doesn't end with the daily closing of the Expo floor. Various parties and meet-ups are scheduled through the evening throughout the city. Last night we both attended one such gathering, the iPhone Intelligence Party hosted by iPhone promoter / evangelist Raven Zachary.

The event was a gathering of iPhone developers, enthusiasts, and press, with a focus on iPhone gaming. Various developers demonstrated their titles to the crowd on a largescreen projector while small LCDs embedded in the wall showed several iPhone games in play. It was an interesting venue and a great time was had by all in attendance.

We had a chance to speak with a number of iPhone game developers about their current titles and what they've got in the pipeline. Photos of some of the folks we spoke with can be seen below.

Steve Demeter (Trism), Danielle Cassley and Jason Citron (Aurora Feint), Ben Lewis (TapDefense)

TapDefense developers (Ben Lewis and Lee Linden, foreground), Fieldrunners developers (Sergei Gourski and Jamie Gotch, rear)

Ng:moco was demonstrating an upcoming word puzzle game known as Word-Fu! which visually resembles Motion-X and involves tapping blocks of letters and shaking the phone to form words. Not a lot of details on this one right now. We spoke with ng:moco CEO Neil Young who mentioned another forthcoming title called Touch Pets that is, in his words, "Nintendogs meets The Sims." Touch Pets should see release sometime between March and May of this year.

We captured a rather grainy video of the event while we were there, which includes footage of the upcoming Word-Fu! Have a look if you don't mind a little eye-strain.

Have a look at our Macworld Expo 2009 Flickr group for more photos of the week's event.

Kotaku received word from Transgaming that Puzzle Quest 1.1 has been submitted to the App Store and addresses a number of issues.

The most important issue that has been fixed has been the reported data loss of some users' Puzzle Quest characters. Obviously, this serious bug could frustrate players. Fortunately, it appears the 1.1 update restores these characters:

"Pretty much what happens is, as soon as people load up 1.1, they’ll have all their characters restored provided they didn’t delete that character to begin with," Paul said in a voicemail message. "For anybody right now who has one character [that's been deleted], it’s not an issue. If they had more than one character, they’re actually in the system, they’re just not able to be seen. If they were to delete a current character [after loading up 1.1], they would have access to the other one. The best thing to do is load in 1.1 version [and see which heroes show up]."

Meanwhile, they have apparently tweaked the legibility of some of the text. Version 1.1 is said to have been submitted to the App Store and should appear at any time.

As promised yesterday, we've posted a few rough gameplay video clips taken from the noisy Macworld expo floor of the upcoming iPhone titles that Freeverse is displaying.

Slotz Racer

Days of Thunder

Flick Sports Baseball

Not on display at the Freeverse booth is a fourth game that's currently in the works, a futuristic RPG / trading game set in a post-apocalyptic United States, 15 years in the future. In Roads of Ruin, the player is a motorcycle courier that delivers goods amongst the various, warring regions into which the US has crumbled.  Freeverse tells us that, of their four upcoming titles, Roads of Ruin is the furthest out from App Store release and should be available several months from now.

Trace developer Kevin Calderone (Bovinedragon Software) previewed their new iPhone game called Gomi.

The world has been overrun by civilization. With the expansion of mankind, the amount of preserved ecosystems is dwindling. It's up to the gomies to make the world beautiful again!

Gomi is a unique game that gives a new meaning to 2d platforming. Explore the unique and challenging stages, and save the planet from being covered in parking lots!

Features described by the developer include:

• 8 unique worlds
• 4 levels and 1 boss stage per world
• 3 missions per level
• 8 characters with different abilities
• Tons of achievements
• Over an hour of original music
• 8 minigames
• Online leaderboards for everything

The gameplay video shows some interesting gameplay that's going to remind some users of Loco Roco, Rolando and even a little I Love Katamari:

Due in January or February 2009.

I had the opportunity to spend some time speaking with the folks from Freeverse in their booth on the Macworld expo floor this morning.

The Mac and iPhone developer's booth featured several iPod touches demonstrating their currently released titles as well as the forthcoming Slotz Racer (which should be available in the next few weeks) in addition to a title that came as news to us: Days of Thunder.

Based on the 1990 film of the same name, Freeverse is developing Days of Thunder for Paramount and tells me that the iPhone game brings the film's storyline along with the action.  The accelerometer controlled game features a variety of cars to choose from and both Circut and Track racing modes.

Additionally, the company was showing video of their upcoming sports title Flick Sports Baseball.

We will shortly be posting videos taken on the floor of each of these upcoming games.

Macworld Expo 2009 has begun.  The yearly party of all-things-Apple will move into full swing with tomorrow's 9am (Pacific) keynote presentation, to be delivered by Apple Senior VP of Worldwide Product Marketing, Phil Schiller.  Macworld Expo 2009 takes place at San Francisco's Moscone Center and runs from January 5th - 9th.

Both Arnold and Blake of Touch Arcade are on location in San Francisco and will be attending tomorrow's keynote as well as providing iPhone related news and information from the expo floor all week long.

We expect there to be many iPhone-related announcements and demos throughout the week and we will strive to bring those to readers in as timely a fashion as is possible.  And as we mentioned in an earlier post, we’d love to meet up with any developers or readers who will also be attending.  (Rather than try to coordinate individual meetings, the easiest time to meet up will be at the MacRumors and iPhone Alley party which we will both be attending.)

Follow Blake and Arnold on Twitter for brief updates on what we’re up to during the week and keep an eye on Blake’s MWSF ‘09 Flickr set for any and all floor pics taken during the expo (updated daily).

For a live play-by-play of tomorrow's keynote event, complete with photos, visit MacRumorsLive at 9am (Pacific).